


Sacred Like A Jewel

by annabeth



Series: Two sides of the same jewel [1]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M, I honestly can't think of any tags to add, Kissing, emotionally constipated boy, maybe slight angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24093247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annabeth/pseuds/annabeth
Summary: Inuyasha finds a difficult decision easy to make, when it's Kikyo asking him to do it...
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome & InuYasha, InuYasha/Kikyou (InuYasha)
Series: Two sides of the same jewel [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1739698
Kudos: 16





	Sacred Like A Jewel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blownwish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blownwish/gifts).



> Written for the prompt "adventurous" for Get Your Words Out Yahtzee.

_fifty years ago_

"Inuyasha, the Sacred Jewel is something that many _youkai_ desire because it would grant them awesome evil power. But, if it were used for something different…" 

"I won't be like that," he boasted. "I'll finally be a full-fledged _youkai_. And then I could always protect you, Kikyo. I'd never allow you to be hurt." He scooted a bit closer; her beautiful eyes glimmered in the light of the sunset. She was just as beautiful of face and form as her eyes, and the first person Inuyasha had ever fallen in love with.

Sometimes other _youkai_ taunted Inuyasha about her; they said terrible things about his _hanyou_ nature even as they mocked him for wanting a human girl. The number of times Inuyasha had said, "I don't care what you say, I love her," coincided rather neatly with the number of _youkai_ who had dared to mention Kikyo in the first place.

He never bothered to tell them anything else, not even the ugly bastards who had the gall to suggest he was only with her because she was a priestess, or because she was the keeper of the Shikon Jewel. He had, perhaps in the beginning, thought Kikyo no more than a means to an end, but that had quickly changed the more time he spent around her. She was kind and gentle, and she had gentled Inuyasha's violent, ravaged soul.

He felt at peace when he was with her, like now, when the splashes of pink and orange in the sky haloed her hair and face. She was stunning; but sometimes Inuyasha thought the most stunning thing about her was her ability to soothe him.

"Inuyasha, listen to what I'm saying. If a _youkai_ possesses the Shikon Jewel, it will be corrupted. It's my job to purify it; I can't let it absorb any more evil. But, Inuyasha, if you used the jewel to become human, it would likely cease to exist."

Inuyasha whipped his head towards her; he had a tendency to watch her sidelong, but this required a full-frontal assault.

"And then what?" he asked, slowly creeping even closer. He wanted to touch her face; to experience how soft her skin was—softer, even, than it looked up close like this, when her face and eyes were luminous. Everything about Kikyo was luminous, like the jewel she purified.

"Inuyasha, you know all I've ever wanted since I met you is to be an ordinary woman. If the jewel were no more, I could have all I wanted." She studied him intently, and Inuyasha could feel himself flush. "Like you, Inuyasha. We could be together."

Inuyasha wanted to tell her that he couldn't protect her as a puny human, but…

"I'd still never allow you to be hurt," he said. "If the _youkai_ come after you, I'll still kill them all." He met her eyes directly, and said, with all the earnestness in his young, inexperienced heart, "I love you, Kikyo. I'll do anything for you."

"Oh, Inuyasha," Kikyo said, and then she was leaning forward, and he was angling towards her…

++

_fifty years later_

"Inuyasha," Kagome said, and he startled, glancing back at her. "I know what you did for those villagers back there. They were so grateful! And—"

Inuyasha stopped listening, but he started running beside her contraption so that he could watch her. No matter how much time passed—no matter how much longer he'd been around Kagome than with Kikyo—he found himself comparing them, the woman he had loved and her reincarnation. And while he'd had more time with Kagome, her presence reminded him of Kikyo, and he'd forget for awhile… and daydream about how short yet sweet had been the time with Kikyo by his side.

It wouldn't be fair to say Kagome was a cheap imitation of Kikyo, even though some _youkai_ or evil humans expressed the idea when they learned she was no priestess, just an ordinary girl—usually right before he killed them.

Yes, he would kill hundreds of _youkai_ for Kagome; he would never let Kouga have her, even if it was only because he was a mangy wolf and not deserving of Kagome in the least.

He never really paused to think what _he_ wanted from Kagome, because while she was pretty and could sense the Sacred Jewel, she wasn't Kikyo. And he couldn't forget Kikyo as long as he was looking at Kagome's face.

Kagome didn't look exactly like Kikyo, though the similarities were striking. She had her own luminescence, and definitely her own personality. Kikyo had been serene like a calm lake, where Kagome was fiery and unpredictable. And where Kikyo had drawn all of Inuyasha's love to the surface from where it had been buried beneath the hurt and pain, Kagome couldn't touch that part of him. Or so he thought; sometimes he _did_ feel oddly touched, and he'd forget all about Kikyo for a moment—and think only of Kagome, and how important she was to him.

So, he watched her. He knew he was watching her when she slept and he couldn't; he knew he watched her while perched on the back of her contraption and she was pedaling. He watched her when she spoke to Shippo or Sango or Miroku; marveled at the sparkle in her eyes.

He was watching her now, as she smiled towards the sky. No, she wasn't Kikyo. But whenever she complimented him—like she had now—he felt warmth suffuse his being, and fill him up till it spilled over in the form of a blush on his cheeks. He couldn't say _why_ he blushed, just that there was something about Kagome…

_I'll do it,_ he thought, as he gazed at Kagome. _I'll definitely kill Naraku and avenge Kikyo… but I'm going to make sure I do it to keep Kagome safe, too._

He was absorbed in thought—the length of Kagome's eyelashes, for one—and it never occurred to him to wonder why he considered it so important to keep Kagome safe…

++

_fifty years ago_

Kikyo's kiss did the unthinkable: it killed something inside Inuyasha that had been festering since he was a young child and had been bullied, called a _hanyou_ , and he'd had to ask his mother what that meant. Kikyo's kiss filled him with something as bright as sunlight: it brought to even more vibrant life the love he felt for her.

He kissed her, and she kissed him, and the world seemed kinder, even beautiful, in ways that it had never been for Inuyasha. And where his love-starved soul had been withering, she brought it to life. Where he had once imagined nothing could grow, that he could never love anyone simply because he didn't know _how_ , Kikyo had shown him how.

And he had always thought himself willing to jump over a cliff for the right reason, to travel and search for the Shikon Jewel—but then he had found Kikyo, and the biggest adventure he'd ever undertaken was falling for the priestess who protected the jewel.

So when they parted, and he was staring at how her lips were wet, and her eyes were softly dancing, he didn't find it difficult to give into all the love he felt. He didn't think it could be so _easy_ , this feeling; he had always thought love tore you up inside, and left nothing but shredded muscle and fractured bone, because that's how it had been for him as a child, and how it had been for his mother, simply because she'd loved a _youkai_ and had borne him a son, Inuyasha. Inuyasha shuddered at the memory, and Kikyo touched his shoulder, then his cheek, turning him back to face her.

"Tell me what you want, Inuyasha. Changing you from the inside out, body and soul, won't be easy." She stroked his cheek, and Inuyasha shivered from the sheer pleasure of basking in her love. Wouldn't he do anything, become anything, to be by her side? To stay by her side and be in the grace of her love forever?

"I'll do it. Kikyo, for you, I'll become human."


End file.
